Excited to say I'm taking a trip with the wife to Colorado this June. I've never fished out west and would like all the advice I can get. I think I'm going to try either the Clear Creek or Snake River near Idaho Springs.
Also, I'm looking to upgrade my rod before the trip to a St. Croix Avid 9ft 5wt. Is this too much rod for these rivers? Any ideas on what flies I need to be tying?
Thank you in advance for the help!

I'm a life long resident of the area so I hope this helps. Regarding Clear Creek, IMHO that's a big NO anywhere downstream of Dumont (which Idaho Springs is). Due to all of the gold mining in the past, the quantity and quality of the fishing there has been questionable for decades. You can catch a few small ones here and there but not worth it when you can drive an hour west and be on some prime producing water.

Regarding the "Snake" river near Idaho Springs (?)....are you sure you didn't get a Google result for the state of Idaho or a city in Idaho vs. the Colorado city of Idaho Springs. No Snake River around here.

Your best bet would be to head west to Frisco or Breckenridge (Blue River Below Lake Dillon, Silverthorne if it's in the middle of run off, or above the lake if not). In Breck hit up Breckenridge Outfitters for what's hot at the time you hit the water. If Frisco, hit up Blue River Anglers. If you want to tie in advance, standard bead head PT's, hares ear nymphs, and any of the small mayfly emergers will be hot at that time.

Not sure what you will see in regards to water levels depending on when in June you come out. The Western Slope had record, and I mean RECORD snowpack this year which will result in a very heavy run off season. The run off may be delayed by cooler than normal weather or with the El Nina weather pattern that we're in, it could just hit hard very soon.

Regarding the rod, a 9' 5wt will be just fine.

Hope this helps - at least the shop references and the nearby quality waters.

+1 for what mtnfolk advised! You are most likely going to run into heavy runoff, it all depends on how warm the wx gets between now and the time you show in June. I'd plan on fishing the tailwaters like the Blue river below the reservoir in Dillon, the Frying Pan below Reudi Reservoir in Basalt, maybe the Gunnison or tak a look at the South Platte River, or take a look at the many great stillwaters in the state. Good luck and be sure to post a trip report when you return.

Just spent an afternoon fishing Clear Creek a bit downstream of Clear Creek. We had a nice BWO hatch and pulled out a total of 8 trout - 7 brook and 1 brown in the snow. 7 were on dries and one on a small black streamer. We had a ton more strikes and follows and it was great to cast to rising trout in the snow. They were checking out BWOs but took parachute adams mostly. It was a great few hours on a nice creek.